Car Wash
by TessaStarDean
Summary: Horatio makes Ryan and Calleigh get the Hummer clean. Written for Jen, who demanded a CaRWash fic with an actual car wash in it.


"Does this seem a little silly to you?" Ryan asked.

Calleigh frowned.

"What?"

"Horatio sending us to go get the Hummer washed. It seems a little…silly."

She shrugged.

"Maybe he just wanted to get some of us out of the lab. There's a lot of tension today…Stetler's walking around like he's ready to nail someone to the wall."

"I sometimes wonder if Stetler would be in a better mood if his ties actually matched his shirt."

"Ryan!" Calleigh laughed.

"What? The guy seriously doesn't know how to dress. I know I'd have a constant headache if I clashed with myself everyday."

"Be nice," she chided gently.

"Fine," he muttered as they pulled up to the car wash. "See?" he pointed. "No one else is here. They're all washing their cars outside in their driveways. It's too nice out to use a car wash."

"Are you offering to wash the entire Hummer by hand? By yourself?"

"No."

"Then hush up and pay the attendant."

"There is no attendant. It's all automated now."

Ryan leaned out the window of the Hummer and fed the money into the little slot. The little screen listed his options and he chose one of the middle ones, figuring that Horatio wouldn't be happy if he got the cheapest and quickest clean. When he was finished, a little green light flashed, and the door in front of them rose. Shutting his window completely, the CSI drove the vehicle into the car wash.

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Calleigh frowned and looked out her window at the water being sprayed against it. It made a thunderous noise as it crashed against the vehicle, but she found it oddly soothing. But as the minutes dragged on, her frown deepened.

"Is it just me, or is this taking an awfully long time?" she asked, turning to Ryan.

He nodded.

"It's been twenty minutes."

"How long is it supposed to last?"

"Seven."

"Oh my."

"Yeah. I've been watching. It seems like the machines are just looping between soap and rinse."

She looked around again, a small smile playing on her lips.

"What exactly are we supposed to do? You said yourself there are no attendants. Are just supposed to wait it out?"

"I'm not really sure. This has never happened to me before."

"We have to get back to work, Ryan. Horatio's going to wonder where we are."

"We could call him."

"And say what? That we're trapped in the car wash?"

"That does sound…ridiculous."

"Exactly."

He nodded and looked out the windshield before turning and looking out the back window as well. Then he sighed and slipped off his jacket.

"What are you doing?" Calleigh asked.

"I'm going to go see if I can manually open one of those doors."

"You'll get soaked."

"I could ask you to do it, but you're wearing a white shirt."

"Always the gentlemen," she teased.

"That's me," he muttered as he opened his door and got out of the car.

He ran through the sprays of water toward the large door in front of them. Reaching down for the handle, he pulled as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge. He continued to pull for a couple of minutes, but finally had to give it up for a lost cause. Cursing under his breath, he turned and ran for the door behind the Hummer. As he passed the driver side door, his foot landed in a puddle of soap suds, and suddenly his feet were up in the air as he went crashing to the floor.

Calleigh saw him fall and was out of the car in an instant. Ignoring the water that immediately soaked her, she ran toward her friend.

"Ryan? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He sat up a little and shook his head, getting the water out of his eyes. Looking up, he saw Calleigh running over to him. "Wait!" he yelled. "Calleigh, there's a puddle of –"

Before he could finish, she had already reached the same puddle that had caused him to fall. He saw her eyes widen in surprise as she lost her footing, and then she was toppling towards him, her arms outstretched as she tried to stop herself. With a grunt, she landed right on top of his chest, his body breaking her fall.

Ryan couldn't help it – he started laughing hysterically the absurdity of their situation. Here they were, trapped in a car wash, soaking wet and lying on top of each other. He didn't think things could get any more ridiculous.

"Are you laughing at me?" Calleigh asked, a mock glare on her face.

"Yes. But if it makes you feel better, I'm really laughing at both of us."

"Well…I guess that's alright then."

It was then that Ryan noticed just how close her face was to his. He could feel the heat of her breath on his face, and he suddenly couldn't think of a single coherent sentence. Licking his lips, he decided that it was now or never and reached up to kiss her. Calleigh's eyes widened in surprise at the sensation of Ryan's lips on hers. But just as she was about kiss him back, he was pulling away, looking at her with something akin to terror in his eyes.

"Are you going to hit me?" he asked nervously.

"No," she whispered, leaning down and capturing his lips with hers.

Ryan wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, lying on the floor and making out like a couple of teenagers. He could barely feel the water anymore, his senses consumed by the feel of Calleigh as she slid her tongue into his mouth and moved her body against his. Automatically, his arms snaked around her waist, pulling her closer, one hand reaching up and tangling in her wet hair. At that point, the only thing he was sure of was that he had never had so much fun at a car wash in his entire life.

Just then, a loud sound caught their attention and forced them to pull back. Turning to look, they saw the large door in front of their car being opened, just as they realized that the water and soap had finally stopped assaulting them. Standing in the doorway was an old man in coveralls, a frown on his face and a pipe in his mouth.

"What do you kids think you're doing?"

Calleigh stood up hurriedly, suddenly realizing that she was wearing a white shirt that was thoroughly soaked. As Ryan stood up beside her, she quickly moved behind him, using his body as a shield.

"We're sorry," he said. "I tried to open the door when the water wouldn't shut off."

"It malfunctioned. Sorry about that. I was taking my afternoon nap."

Calleigh leaned her head between Ryan's shoulders and laughed as quietly as she could. Ryan gave the old man a smile.

"That's okay. So can we leave now?"

"Yeah. Get on outta here. You can take your shenanigans elsewhere."

"Yes sir."

The old man stood there for a minute, as though he wanted to see them get back into the car with his own eyes. But Calleigh refused to move until he was gone, so he finally gave up and walked back to his office. After he left, they both burst into gales of laughter as they climbed back into the Hummer.

"Well that was an adventure," Ryan smiled as they drove back toward the lab. Looking over at Calleigh, he handed her his still-dry jacket. "Here. That way you can at least get to the locker room without people being able to see through your shirt."

"Thanks," she said, taking the jacket and wrapping it around her body. "So," she continued, looking straight ahead. "Are you going to ask me out or what?"

"That depends. Are you going to say yes?"

"As long as you don't take your sweet time asking."

He laughed at that and then turned to look at her as they stopped at a red light.

"Have dinner with me tonight?"

She gave him a shy smile.

"Absolutely."


End file.
